


Bee Mine

by castielrisingabove



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Date Planner Castiel, Enemies to Lovers, Firefighter Dean, Fluff, M/M, Some Humor, minor homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 20:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7656073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielrisingabove/pseuds/castielrisingabove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel runs a business, "Bee Mine," which sets up elaborate dates for couples. He's had a 100% success rate when it comes to couples staying together. That is, until Dean Winchester shows up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bee Mine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whelvenwings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whelvenwings/gifts).



> Minor language. Some minor internalized homophobia on Dean's part.

Castiel Novak knew his job was a calling when he was fourteen. Now, nobody in their right mind would say he was anything close to a romantic. Sure, in the right situation his dark messy hair and striking blue eyes would be something to make someone swoon, but more often than not he’d taken to wearing thick sweaters and large glasses, making him look more like the awkward homeschooled kid than the star of the freshman class.

What’s more, Castiel was incredibly awkward around everyone. He wasn’t pop culture savvy and struggled to connect with anyone. Which was why his talents came as a surprise.

“I can’t blow this!” Gabriel, his sixteen year old brother, paced the living room, “I just asked _Kali_ out on a date, you don’t get that chance every day!”

Kali was a grade above Gabriel and _way_ out of his league. She was captain of the cheerleading team _and_ the debate team, not to mention drop dead gorgeous...it was enough to be homecoming queen for three years running. She also happened to be kind, kind enough to accept a first date with a guy known as the school clown, which meant Gabriel was right. He only had one chance to woo her.

“I’ve got an idea,” Castiel piped up, peeking up from the book he was reading.

“You?” Gabriel was incredulous, “Cas, no offense, but I’ve never even seen you get close to going on a date before.”

Cas shrugged. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Gabriel paused for a minute, mulling over his possible options. He paced a little more and Castiel resumed reading. Suddenly, Gabriel ripped the book out of Cas’ hands.

“Fine. I’m desperate. What sort of date would you do?”

Castiel glanced up at his brother’s face, mere inches from his own, and smiled serenely. “You’ll need a canoe, a reasonable meal, candles and possibly a violinist…”

That week, Gabriel took Kali on the date of a lifetime. By the end of the month, they were boyfriend and girlfriend. After Gabriel’s success, news traveled fast throughout the school. Castiel Novak might be odd and awkward, but the dates he planned always worked like magic and his services were constantly in high demand.

It wasn’t until senior year that he even thought to charge money.

\---

He called his business _Bee Mine_ , complete with its own logo with a heart as the flight trail behind a small honey bee, and it helped put Castiel through college. Turns out, people were more than willing to pay for his “miracle dates.” As time went on, the 100% success rate he touted grew more and more impressive and as soon as he graduated college, Castiel went on to make it his full time job.

He never thought “date planner” would be a full time business. But it was. And, despite a few near-bridezillas and stalkers (the likes of which he immediately turned away), it was something that ran rather smoothly. Castiel had never dealt with any drama.

Until Dean Winchester.

In theory, designing Dean Winchester’s date should have been a walk in the park. Castiel had read both Dean and Lisa’s profiles from top to bottom. Lisa seemed like a great woman: she was an easy-going yoga instructor with very little she disliked. And she was, he was told, very attractive. Not that it mattered to Castiel, he was not only professional, but also very much gay, but he was aware that the attractiveness of the partner tended to play a part in how difficult a date would be to wrangle. More attractive couples had one less reason to complain.

If Lisa was beautiful, well, Dean was absolutely stunning. Well-built with a thick head of hair, incredible green eyes, and lips that Castiel was sure nobody could resist kissing. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Dean worked full time as a firefighter and spent much of his spare time restoring old cars, partitioning off a good sum of money to help put his younger brother through Stanford.

In person, he was even more fantastic. Charming and kind, with a great sense of humor to boot. When he came in requesting Castiel plan an elaborate date for him and Lisa, Castiel had been certain there was no way for it to fail.

After all, it was Castiel’s definition of the ultimate date. The date that he, one day, planned to take a special someone on. And Dean _definitely_ fit in the category of a special someone.

The date was going to be an all day affair, involving a sunrise hot air balloon ride across the vast Teton Valley, a decadent picnic in a gorgeous meadow, a tram ride up to the top of a mountain, finished with a quiet meal over a flickering fire in the woods.

Dean had seemed excited, albeit a little nervous, and their meeting had gone smoothly. Castiel only allowed himself to linger for a moment on the fantasy that it was Dean taking _him_ on this date before brushing it aside. Business first. That’s how he got to the top and that’s how he intended to stay.

That is, until a couple weeks later when Dean Winchester was bursting into his office unannounced.

“Your dating service is shit!” Dean shouted, slamming what looked to be a print-out of the bill onto Castiel’s desk. Castiel stood abruptly, unused to this sort of behaviour from anyone. Clients had shouted, sure, but not about this.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Castiel replied slowly.

“Your so called ‘100% success rate’?” Dean mimed the last phrase in air quotes, “Is total bullshit. I demand a refund.”

“I assure you,” Castiel said cooly, pushing the bill back to Dean’s side of the desk, “The 100% success rate is completely accurate. Nobody has come back with anything short of high praise.”

“Was anyone else turned down when they tried to propose?”

Castiel’s brow furrowed and he frowned. He was not sure what was more surprising: someone breaking his perfect record or the fact that failure came in the form of what very well might have been the perfect specimen of man. “Did you propose on the date?”

“Yes!” Dean shouted, shoving the bill back with such force that it sent a small vase of lilies tumbling off the desk. It shattered, sending water and glass everywhere. Castiel glanced at it and groaned, but Dean didn’t seem to notice. “Proposed on the fucking mountain, no less. And you know what she said?”

“I have no idea.”

“It’s never going to work.”

“Did she...elaborate?” Castiel asked awkwardly. It was not a great question and he knew it, but in terms of his company, he has to know what to amend in order to avoid a situation like this in the future.

“I--” Dean paused before snapping his mouth shut. “You know what? It’s none of your business.”

“Except it is my business,” Castiel’s voice remained calm, “When you’re demanding a refund for one of my most expensive excursions.”

Dean fumed, hovering between stomping out of the room and saying something. Finally, he hung his head. “She said it wouldn’t work because I was gay.”

Castiel couldn’t help it, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Are you?”

Dean glared at Cas. “What do you think, dumbass? I was in the process of proposing to my fucking _girlfriend_. Does that sound gay to you?”

Ah. This was exceptionally tricky territory to navigate. Castiel opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to think of something, _anything,_ to say, but he was coming up quite unfortunately empty.

“Exactly,” Dean added, as though he’d proven a point, “Your miracle date was supposed to be the icing on the cake here, not some debacle where my almost fiance tries to come out _for me_.”

Castiel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, this really seems like you guys had bigger issues outside of this date. And while I’m sorry it didn’t go well…”

“... _you’re not giving me a refund?_ ” Dean’s voice was dangerously tense as he stepped forwards, grabbing Castiel by his tie. Castiel could see the rage in his eyes and tried valiantly to stay calm.

“I…”

“You think I’m _gay_ , don’t you? You agree with Lisa’s shitty excuse for not marrying me!” Dean shouted, pushing Castiel away. Castiel stumbled back a step, not expecting Dean to have gotten so physical.

“Dean, maybe you should come back when you’re more calm and we can discuss…”

“Screw you, Novak,” Dean sneered, “I’m going to make sure this business tanks just as hard as my engagement.”

He turned on his heel before Castiel could say anything, stomping out of the room and slamming the office door so hard it sent a framed photograph of Castiel with his siblings falling to the floor. Castiel stood frozen in place for a moment, giving himself a second to take it in before once again returning to business as usual.

Dean Winchester was just mad, Cas reasoned. As soon as he calmed down, Castiel would have nothing to worry about.

\----

As it turned out, Dean Winchester could hold a major grudge. It had started small, the occasional disgruntled email. Slowly, it had escalated. First, with Dean barging into his office. This was bad enough when Castiel was alone, but even worse for business when Dean came in when Castiel was with customers.

Castiel banned him from the office building. Which was when Dean took to protesting outside his window. Every afternoon, like clockwork, Dean would roll in with his ‘67 Impala. Castiel _hated_ that he could now recognize the sound of a Chevy Impala motor. Next, Dean would sit outside his window, blasting classic rock and shouting insults about Castiel’s business to anyone who would listen. It has brought an unfortunate amount of press to Castiel, driving clients to Cas only because they too want to see if they can make a date fail.

Castiel hated that Dean did all of this, but more than that, he hated the fact he secretly grew excited to see Dean. He knew that with every eye roll at Dean’s rude behavior came the stupidly traitorous wish that they could have met in some other way. That Dean could be a much more positive fixture in Castiel’s life.

The two of them hit breaking point after a month of Dean’s harrassments. Castiel had finished a particularly tense meeting with a gentleman named Cain, who flew into a violent temper when Castiel suggested taking his wife to a class that taught them how to harvest honey, when he heard Dean shouting insults outside his window. Again.

Grumpily, Castiel opened the window to his second story room. “I thought you had a job.”

“I do this during my lunch breaks!” Dean retorted. Today he had a sign that says _Go to Asstiel if you want your date to go down the toilet_. Real mature.

“Could you keep it down? Just this once?”

“What, you gonna shut me up?”

Castiel closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “We at Bee Mine--”

“More like _pee_ -mine!” Dean retorted and, just like that, began to urinate on some of the rose bushes Castiel had planted by hand outside of the office building.

It was too much. Castiel slammed the window shut, whipping open his office door and all but running out to the front. Gone was the cool he’d worked so hard to maintain. Gone was the “business first” attitude. It was replaced with pure rage.

A rage Dean wasn’t expecting. In fact, he was grinning to himself as he adjusted his pants. The grin quickly disappeared as soon as Castiel grabbed him by his AC/DC shirt and slammed him against the brick wall of the office building.

“Enough is enough,” Castiel snarled, blue eyes full of such cold fury that Dean was rendered speechless. “You want your refund? _Fine_. But I want to make absolutely sure it was my dating service that ruined your engagement.”

“Anything." Dean smirked, but there was definitely an inkling of fear behind the smile. Good. 

“You choose another date, whatever you want from my services, but this time you take a _man_ on the date with you.”

Dean gaped. Castiel was pressed against him and could feel his breath hitch. Castiel grinned; this might finally be the end of this miserable face off with Dean. What he wasn’t expecting was for Dean to return the smile, a wicked gleam in his eye.

“Fine,” Dean breathed, “But I’m going to take the most miserable date prospect of all time...”

Dean paused, cocking an eyebrow as Castiel's heart began to hammer in his chest. Two sides of him (the professional and the side harboring perhaps the  _slightest_ crush on Dean) seemed at war with each other as he waited for Dean to finish his sentence.

“...you.”

Castiel’s head spun as he let Dean go. This scenario was both his favorite dream and worst nightmare. He was going to go on a date with the handsome, charming _Dean Winchester_. Except for the one painful caveat: Dean hated his guts. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his rushing emotions. Business as usual. He could do this. Castiel didn’t have to woo Dean, he just had to give him a good enough date to make sure Dean didn’t demand a refund for his failed engagement. And that couldn’t be too hard, right?

“Very well,” Castiel tried to keep his voice even as he let Dean go. “I’ve got a free moment now if you’d like to come to my office and consult?”

“Of course,” Dean replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he followed Castiel back into the building. The receptionist, a sweet young woman named Hael, looked up at Dean with alarm.

“Sir?” she asked, her voice hesitant, “Is everything…”

“It’s fine, Hael. I’ve got this under control.”

Cas wasn’t sure if he appreciated how abruptly Dean could shift into pasting on a charming smile, but that’s exactly what Dean did, grinning at Hael like she was the only person in the room. “No worries, sweetheart. Your boss and I just have some legitimate business together this time.”

It took all of Castiel’s willpower not to roll his eyes. He led Dean up the stairs and down the hall to his office. Dean walked in before Cas, making himself at home on the comfy yellow couch that Castiel kept in the corner. Cas tried not to stare at Dean’s thighs as he sprawled out across the furniture.

“You replaced your flowers,” Dean noted, “They were orange before.”

Castiel glanced down at his new vase, which now housed a single small sunflower. “That happens when the vase gets destroyed,” he replied bluntly.

“Right,” Dean cleared his throat awkwardly, “So. How does this go when your couples are two dudes?”

“You know,” Castiel said, moving to sit down behind his desk, “I’ve done dates for plenty of same sex couples.”

“Oh. Right.” If Castiel was being optimistic, Dean sounded almost embarrassed.

“And I design their dates just like I would any straight couple,” Castiel added, bending over to pull Dean’s file from his drawer. He didn't admit that he’d filled Dean’s profile with all sorts of date ideas _not_ listed in his usual brochure, like off-beat roadside attractions and questionable diners that served the best french fries. Castiel toyed with a pen, trying to decide whether or not to pitch one, when--

“I’ll take a repeat of the last date,” Dean said, “Hell, we only have to do it until we get to the top of the mountain. That’s when things ended with me’n Lisa, and there’s no way it’ll last that long with us.”

Castiel considered it. Dean’s statement made a lot of sense...but deep down Castiel wasn’t sure how he felt about using his one ideal date on a guy who loathed him. Still, to deny Dean this would mean admitting he’d spent extra time designing Dean-centric dates. And that could _not_ be a thing Dean knew about.

“Sounds good to me,” Castiel said, feigning indifference, “This weekend work for you?”

“Sure thing,” Dean’s voice was just as tense, “I’ll pick you up at 5 AM on Saturday.”

“You want to pick me up?” Castiel was surprised.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Dean kicked his leg up as he got off the couch, “I just know my car is better than anything you drive.” And then he was gone, leaving Castiel with equal parts of dread and excitement twisting in his stomach. Saturday couldn’t come fast enough.

\---

It was surprisingly difficult to find an outfit. After all, he had no idea what Dean would be into, and winning Dean over would be crucial for his business. Or maybe his love life. Or both. In the end, Castiel tried on several, settling with a blue sweater over a simple white button up. The motor of the ‘67 Impala alerted Castiel to Dean’s presence and he found himself rushing out of the bedroom, grabbing his wallet and a six pack of beer as he made his way out the front door. To his surprise, Castiel nearly ran into Dean on the well manicured path to his house. Dean’s wearing a soft black t-shirt that hugs his toned frame just right, along with a leather jacket that anyone would call sexy. Cas gaped.

“What?” Dean scoffed, “You think I’m not gentleman enough to pick my date up at the door?” Cas shrugged, trying to act nonchalant as he followed Dean to the car. “What’s with the beer?” Dean asked, eyeing the six pack as Cas opened the passenger door of the Impala.

“Typically I ensure the date starts with a bouquet of flowers,” Castiel explained, making sure the six-pack was adequately positioned in the back to avoid falling over before settling into the front seat and buckling his seatbelt. “But I thought you might appreciate alcohol more. I remembered you mentioning this brand on our first meeting, so I took the liberty of bringing this along instead.”

“Huh.” Dean looked mildly impressed as he started the car, “Not bad. But you’ve got a long way to go if you’re going to convince me this date failing wasn’t entirely your fault.”

They drove in silence for a while before Dean pushed an AC/DC cassette into the player, cranking the volume up as though taunting Cas.

“How’s work at the fire station?” Castiel asked halfway through the drive.

Again, Dean looked slightly surprised. “Not bad…”

To Castiel’s surprise, however, Dean actually launched into a story about how him and his co-worker, a burly man with a Southern accent named Benny, had to deal with a house out in the country that had caught fire when a nearby barn full of fireworks had practically exploded. It was interesting and funny and Castiel found himself hanging onto Dean’s every word, especially when the man veered from talking about his work to talking about other things.

It was only when Dean pulled into the parking lot that he looked over at Castiel. “Dude,” he said, “Quit looking at me funny.” Still, Cas could see the faintest blush creep onto Dean’s cheeks as he said it. Castiel simply nodded, getting out of the car. The sun was just starting to rise over the mountains and he could see the hot air balloon he’d rented, one with green and blue stripes, waiting for them in the distance. He made his way towards it, noticing only about halfway there that Dean had fallen very far behind.

He doubled back to find Dean looking _very_ worried. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah...um…” Dean rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he surveyed the hot air balloon like it was a dragon, “We did hot air balloons last time because it was more of Lisa’s thing, y’know?”

Castiel stopped. “Are you afraid of heights, Dean?”

“What? No! It’s just…” Dean sighed loudly, hanging his head, “Fine. I’m scared of flying, okay?”

“You are?” Castiel frowned. By now, he knew Dean's file like the back of his own hand. There was nothing in it about a dislike of flying, “You never mentioned--” 

“--you think I was gonna admit that?” Dean huffed a shaky laugh, “I wanted to impress Lisa! And she was so into these sorts of things…”

“Well, I’m not Lisa,” Castiel replied calmly, “We don’t have to ride this if we don’t want to.”

“Oh, hell no,” Dean tugs the cuff of Castiel’s sweater to propel them both forwards, “I’m going to recreate this date exactly so you don’t have any excuses not to refund me. I rode it then, I can ride it now.”

This statement was one that only seemed to be partly true. Dean looked positively pale as they rose into the sky, clinging to the edge of the basket like it was a lifeline. Tentatively, Castiel scooted closer to Dean, placing his hand on top of Dean’s as he leaned in. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” he asked, his lips intoxicatingly close to Dean’s ear. If this was any other date...Castiel pulled away before he could get any ideas.

To his surprise, however, Dean shifted to grip Castiel’s hand tightly. “Aside from the fact we’re all going to die?” Dean exhaled a shaky breath, “Definitely.”

Castiel smiled softly, giving Dean’s hand a brief squeeze. “Don’t look at the ground,” he commanded gently, “Look at the clouds. See how the colors all work together? You’ve got the pinks there, some traces of purples over there...the sky is painting a masterpiece just for you, Dean Winchester…”

Dean relaxed slightly, leaning against Castiel. “Don’t stop talking,” Dean said simply, “I think you’re the only thing keeping me from passing out.”

Castiel smiled and obliged, first describing the landscape, then going on to talk about his own life. About how his older siblings were all successful, about how how long he’d run the business, about how he had managed to make everyone happy but himself.

“...and you,” Castiel added as an afterthought. The balloon drifted down towards their destination, “I suppose I did not make you happy either.”

Dean opened his mouth, then closed it again, eyes fixed on Castiel as the balloon landed. “I, uh, guess I don’t have to do this anymore,” Castiel said, letting go of Dean’s hand. He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, after all, Dean’s hand was warm and calloused and wonderful to hold, but he doubted Dean would appreciate it.

Castiel assumed he’d simply imagined the flicker of disappointment in Dean’s face. To avoid his own disappointment, Castiel focused on the next step of the date: their picnic. He had arranged for a basket of food to be delivered to their landing site--it didn't take long to track down. Once they'd decided on a nearby hike, Dean took it upon himself to carry the basket up the small hiking trail to the nearby meadow.

“These weren’t here last time,” Dean commented, gesturing to the field dotted in blue, red and yellow wildflowers, “But I like ‘em.” He smiled at Castiel, who couldn’t help but smile back as Dean unpacked the picnic basket. Inside was a variety of cold breakfast items, including croissants, fruit and--

“Dude, what are these?”

Castiel had specifically ordered a selection of kolaches, soft bread roll type pastries with sweet or savory fillings. He'd found a note made during the initial interview. Apparently Dean made an offhanded comment about wishing there was a way to incorporate cherry pie into a normal breakfast. A dozen Google searches later had yielded a few potential results, kolaches being one of them.

“Try this one,” Castiel said, rummaging through the bag to pull out a cherry filled kolache.

Dean bit into it, eyes widening at the taste. He finished it off in two huge bites, moaning with pleasure. “This might be the greatest breakfast food ever invented! Do you have any more?”

Cas couldn’t help but grin as he tossed Dean another one.

They spent the remainder of breakfast in lazy camaraderie, grazing on the foods in the basket while chatting aimlessly. Castiel swore Dean seemed to be drifting closer and closer to him as the time went on...he was almost close enough to touch….when Castiel’s phone buzzed: an alert for the final portion of their date: the ride to the top of the mountain.

“It’s almost time for our next activity,” Castiel said, heart sinking. Their date was almost over, all Dean had to do was ride up to the top with Cas and tell him he was done.

“Don’t sound so excited,” Dean replied, hopping up to help clean up their picnic mess. They hiked down the hill in silence, Cas only speaking to point Dean in the direction of where to go to catch a ride to the mountain.

The line for the tram was full of all sorts of people: hikers, families on vacation, older individuals and, yes, some couples. Castiel could feel his stomach clenching, he couldn’t even bring himself to look at Dean, staring instead at the big red tram moving up and down the mountain. Boarding the tram turned out to be an even greater torture, with Dean pressed up against Castiel in an effort to cram more passengers onto the machine. Cas tried valiantly not to let his mind stray, but he couldn’t help it. Professionalism had long since gone out the window; Castiel had well and truly started to fall for Dean Winchester. To try and ease the pain, he stared pointedly out the window the entirety of the ride.

As soon as they reached the top, however, Castiel was surprised to find Dean grabbing his hand. He tugged Castiel away from the crowds. The wind was much stronger at the peak, tousling Dean’s hair and forcing him to speak at almost a shout.

“What’s your problem?”

Castiel frowned.

“I mean, I know you hate me. And I know this date was a stupid idea…” Dean paused, “But I’m having a good time, okay?”

Castiel blinked, trying to figure out if he’d heard Dean correctly.

“And I thought you were having a good time too, but…” Dean looked away.

Impulsively, Cas reached out to grab Dean’s other hand. “I’ve never been on one of my own dates before,” Cas admitted loudly. He was starting to suspect some of the other tram riders are staring, but he ignored them. “And I never thought I’d get to have one with you.”

Dean looked back at Castiel, surprise etched across his features. His cheeks were flushed, though that might be from the cold.

“And I thought...I don’t know what I was thinking setting this date up...I guess I thought you’d hate me enough up close that I’d….” Cas sighed, “I’d get over you.”

Dean didn’t say a word. This, as far as Castiel could tell, was the worst reaction possible. Instead, he lead Castiel to the ledge of the peak, sitting down. Cas sat next to him, shivering in the cold as they stared out across the valley. “You know how I said I’m not gay?”

Cas frowned. “I know, I know--”

To his surprise, Dean pushed a finger to Cas’ lips. “No. You don’t. See, after Lisa, I got to thinking about it and...y’know...it kind of explains a lot of stuff. Things I don’t want to get into now, I just...what I’m trying to say is...I….”

Dean stared at Castiel and Castiel stared back, lost in those wide green eyes, wondering if this would be the last time he’d see them when suddenly Dean’s lips crashed against his own. It was sloppy and scared and warm and soft. Cas found himself kissing back without even thinking and for a moment, everything was absolutely, positively perfect.

Then Dean pulled away, eyes wide and scared. “That…”

“Dean?” Castiel feared what the answer was going to be.

The other man’s face split into a brilliant smile, the kind that would light up a room. “That...was _awesome!_ ” he said breathlessly, tugging Castiel into another kiss and as the wind rushed around them, Castiel swore it felt like flying.

\---

  
After that date, Castiel would go on to tell customers that _Bee Mine_ had a 100% success rate. He had a different version of the story, however, that he shared at his wedding: _Bee Mine_ had one failed engagement...but as far as Dean and Castiel Winchester were concerned, that was the biggest success of all.

**Author's Note:**

> Fan art is by the lovely [ @soluscheese](http://soluscheese.tumblr.com/)


End file.
